There are 93% of Canadians who are interested in a four-day work week, according to a poll conducted by YouGov on behalf of Talent.com. .“Successful pilot programs for a four-day work week have been implemented in markets around the world, resulting in improved productivity,” said Talent.com head of sales strategy Robert Boersma in a press release. .“Canadians too are showing an increased desire for the concept, however, they’ve shown a lot of concerns surrounding the implementation of the four-day work week and what that could mean in terms of workload, work hours, pay, and more.”.The poll said Canadians placed it in their top three professional benefits which can be offered by a company at 57%. This was followed by insurance (52%) and flexibility to choose their working hours (47%). .While the four-day work week remained consistent in the top three benefits across provinces, British Columbia chose insurance among its top choices more often (59%). Ontario was the one province to include more vacation days in their top three benefits. .While 43% of Canadians said they believe the reduced work week is an eventual step to the hybrid model, the poll said four-fifths have at least one concern with it, with Gen Z and Millennials more concerned than older generations. It added more women than men are worried about being paid less (52% vs. 45%) and working longer days (40% vs. 33%), and those concerns seem to keep growing with the level of education. .More than two-fifths of Canadians said they are not equally productive on all working days, with half saying a four-day work week should consist of less than 36 hours per week. However, working between 32 and 36 hours is more popular among 18- to 34-year-olds (41%) than 55+ (29%). .When it comes to taking a pay cut in exchange for a shorter work week, the poll found about three-tenths are willing to lose less than 10%. It said 18- to 34-year-olds were more willing (44%) to have a pay cut compared to 35- to 54-year-olds and 55+ (30%), and this sentiment remained consistent across income groups. .The top reason Canadians gave for wanting it were better work-life balance (47%). This was followed by improving mental health and avoiding burnout (20%) and reduced stress levels from overwhelming work conditions (10%). .Employees in Alberta (56%) and British Columbia (50%) placed work-life balance most often in their top reasons compared to other provinces. More women (24%) place improving mental health and avoiding burnout in their top reasons than men (16%). .Seven-tenths placed leisure and recreational activities in their top three ways of spending the extra free time. Other top reasons were personal appointments (65%) and household chores (59%). .Leisure tends to be most often seen in the top three in Alberta (78%) and BC (75%). More women (64%) than men (56%) ranked households chores as their highest priority. .“With this study, we at Talent.com seek to understand these concerns and work with both employees and organizations to address them, ultimately empowering them for what comes next,” said Boersma. .The poll was conducted online among a representative population of 1,003 Canadian adults from March 30 to April 6. No margin of error was assigned to it.
